Twisted Fate
by Iceestar
Summary: Matthew was separated from his brothers at a young age. Desperate to get them back he works under Arthur, a man greedy for power. Becoming an assassin for Arthur's dirty work, Matthew's killed more than he can count, but eventually all that killing gets to a person. When his next target is a wild albino and his family, Matthew may end up rethinking his life entirely.
1. Memories

((A/N: Matthew is an assassin for a wealthy lord name Arthur. He's killed too many people to count, never batting an eye, but when he is forced to get to know the man he's going to kill before killing him, Matthew has to rethink what he's doing. AU. It's a PruCan fic with a few other pairings randomly thrown in there.))

A soft voice broke the chilling silence, "Al... Al, where are y- you? I'm sc- scared Al. Why did you leave me all alone? Al... please come back. Why did you have to leave?"

The owner of the voice, a young boy with wavy blonde hair and teary violet eyes, looked around. The boy looked to be only 12 and was wearing a little white nightgown with a red bow on the front. His tear streaked face was soft and made the boy look years younger than his real age and more like a girl. In his blonde hair was a single curl that hung down in his face. The little boy walked along with his right hand gently on the wall as his he was scared that if he drifted away from the wall he'd get lost.

"Al... Please don't go. I- I don't want to be alone, Al. I already lost one big brother don't make me lose another one... I'm so scared..." The little boy mumbled quietly as he ran his soft, pale hand against the wall. He didn't speak anymore than that for a bit, choosing to just walk along slowly and silently. A few tears glittered on the boys face as he sniffled softly. He just wanted his big brother. Either one of his big brothers would do just as long as he wasn't alone anymore. The little boy always felt alone and he couldn't stand it anymore.

The little boy continued his slow path down the hall. His foot caught on something in the hallway and he stumbled forward before falling on his face. Fresh tears welled up in the boy's eyes before streaming out onto his face. "A- Alfred! Where are you?" The boy cried out.

A large shadow suddenly fell over the boy. The boy looked up with really wide eyes. His eyes meet with green soulless orbs. The boy felt a shiver go down his spine as he softly said, "Où-est Francis? Où-est Alfred? Je veux mes frères!"

The boy suddenly found himself lifted up in the air. A single smack rang out in the silence of the night as a hand made contact with the boy's right check. The man holding the little child moved the boy's face to his.

"What have I told you about speaking that dirty language? And you are to _never_ mention either of your brothers again. You have no family now. They all left you so forget all about them. I'm the only one here now." The man growled angrily before letting the boy fall to the ground. The man stalked off as the little boy scrambled backwards to push his back against the wall and cry silently as he curled up into a little ball, praying for someone to come and help him.

* * *

Gasping, Matthew shot up and out of bed, trying to erase the painful memory from his mind. Matthew sat back down on the edge of the bed and puled his knees to his chest as he closed his eyes and tried to tell himself to calm down. "C- Calm down Matthew... I- It was just a dream, there's no need to get so worked up. It's a thing of the past." Matthew muttered softly to himself. He reached a shaky hand to his side and snatched his glasses off the night stand next to his bed, placing them on the bridge of his nose. Matthew brushed a few stray blonde hairs out of his violet eyes.

Matthew felt the wetness on his cheeks and knew that he had been crying. He let one knee slip off the bed as he hugged the one still on the bed and tried to stay calm. "It's a thing of the past Matthew... You'll find them soon... I have to."

Matthew got out of bed swiftly and glanced around the room. _'Good, Arthur hasn't sent for me.'_ Matthew thought before he started smoothing down the white sheets of his bed. He pulled up the single blue blanket he had and smoothed it down as well, knowing that he'd get in trouble for not having his bed tidy. As Matthew scanned the room again his eyes fell on the light brown desk he had. There were papers stacked in a neat pile off to the side of the desk and a feather in a bottle of ink off to the other side of the desk. In the middle was a little lamp for Matthew to use at night. Matthew rarely used the desk, but sometimes he had to write reports of his job to Arthur and Matthew always felt better making a copy of it, hence the pile of papers. Moving his eyes across the bland yellow wall that he hated so much Matthew looked at his small dresser. It wasn't very bit, but Matthew has all the clothes he could need in there.

His room wasn't very big in the first place. Off to the side was a door leading to the bathroom and then off to another side was the door out of the room and into the halls. Matthew went over to his desk before calmly taking off the sweat pants and big t-shirt he slept in. Once that was done Matthew shuffled in his drawers for his favorite red hoodie and a nice pair of jeans. Finding them, Matthew put them on quickly as a small hand hit the door.

Matthew looked up quickly, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose and said, "Come in."

He lifted an eye brow as a small fairy floated into the room and stifled a sigh. _'Great, another mission for me.'_ Matthew thought sourly. He hated his missions with a passion. They were typically inhuman and normally involved the death of someone else, but this was Matthew's life. He had chosen to stick with Arthur even after Alfred- No. Matthew didn't need to think about any of that. There was no use in dwelling in the past. Matthew was looking to the future.

"Sir, Master Arthur wants you to get ready for your next mission. He said to get dressed in your black uniform and then to come to the Great Hall so he can give you the details of your valiant mission. Have a great day, Sir." The fairy said with a little bow before she turned around and flew out of the room to go back to Arthur. She was his favorite fairy with her green wings and sea blue dress and head of light blonde hair. Matthew thought the fairy was very pretty as well, it was a shame she was just a mere puppet for Arthur, but then again, Matthew had no room to talk since he was Arthur's puppet as well.

Matthew turned back to his dresser and opened up the top drawer calmly before pulling out his black uniform. It was a stretchy material and fit snugly on Matthew. It was made so Matthew would be able to move around comfortably, but wouldn't have any fabric loose enough to trip Matthew up. Plus, it made nearly no noise when rubbed together so Matthew wouldn't have to worry about walking silently as long as he didn't accidentally run into a tree or something stupid like that. As Matthew put the shirt on he didn't pull up the hood or the mask, which were bits of extra fabric around his neck that when pulled up would cover all of his head except his eyes. Matthew pulled up the pants. They looked more like tights than anything else, but there was a little design on them to try and make them look like normal jeans. Matthew went to the side of his dresser and grabbed the black shoes laying there. His black shoes looked like ballet shoes except they covered all of his feet and the toes had steel in them. They were light weight despite the steel and very good for running.

Matthew quickly slipped the shoes on before he snatched a bag off the floor that had been next to his shoes. Matthew tossed the bag on his bed for later use as he made sure to straighten out his uniform. Matthew turned to walk out the door before remembering something. Matthew turned around and opened a drawer of his dresser and pulled out two black gloves. He put them on so now if he had the hood and face mask up the only skin on him showing would be the strip around his eyes. Matthew took the clothes he had originally had on and tossed them near the bag. Now that Matthew was ready he quickly walked out the door and into the hallway.

Matthew looked around the halls for a second when his eyes clouded over for a moment. His eyes grew unfocused as he gently placed a hand on the wall next to him, thinking of the dream, thinking of his memory of the night his brother disappeared. Matthew lifted the hand not on the wall and gently touched his right cheek, almost feeling the stinging heat there from getting slapped all that time ago.

Matthew felt a few tears gather up in his eyes as he softly said, "I'll find you Alfred... You too Francis..."

* * *

((A/N:

Translations:

"Où-est Francis? Où-est Alfred? Je veux mes frères!" - "Where is Francis? Where is Alfred? I want my brothers!"

So, I've had this idea for a while... Actually I started writing it in my notebook a really long time ago and have just now gotten to writing it. I'm not sure how I'm going to separate the parts into different chapters since I didn't do that when I was writing it in my notebook, but so far I've got 23 pages in my notebook to type up still so updates will probably be pretty quick so long as something doesn't happen to keep me from typing.

Reviews will make me type faster~!))


	2. The Mission

Recap:

Matthew looked around the halls for a second when his eyes clouded over for a moment. His eyes grew unfocused as he gently placed a hand on the wall next to him, thinking of the dream, thinking of his memory of the night his brother disappeared. Matthew lifted the hand not on the wall and gently touched his right cheek, almost feeling the stinging heat there from getting slapped all that time ago.

Matthew felt a few tears gather up in his eyes as he softly said, "I'll find you Alfred... You too Francis..."

Chapter 2- The Mission

Matthew quickly shook his head to clear his thoughts. He needed to focus on the job ahead. Living in the past would do nothing, but get him killed and if he died he really would never find Francis or Alfred. As long as he did what Arthur wished for just a while longer he'd be reunited with the two. At least, that was the deal.

Matthew let out a loud sigh before he started down the hallway quietly and quickly, his feet barely making any noise as he walked along the polished floor. The large house was nice, but had a creepy feeling to it considering very few people actually did live there and that caused the house to be eerily silent. It almost gave it a haunted feeling, but Matthew didn't believe in ghosts so he dismissed the idea of the house being haunted as soon as it came to mind.

Matthew reached the door to the meeting hall an opened it without a sound. He walked in and looked around the huge room. The ceiling was high and there were a few tables and chairs scattered about the area since the room also served as a dinning hall when meals were served.

Matthew turned towards the upper area of the room and saw Arthur sitting at the head of a table with a few people standing all around him talking rapidly and loudly.

"It's the middle of spring and the animals in the stables are about to give birth, but we don't have enough food for all of them. They're going to start starving to death!" A young boy snapped.

"When are you going to send someone into town to get flour or meat? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to live off of dirt." The cook shouted over the others.

An older man raised his voice above the others to get his own two cents in. "The horse stable is falling apart because of the heavy snow last winter and it needs to be fixed, but I don't have the wood for it and I can't go chop down the wood myself because I can't pull the wood cart when it's full!"

The voices were slowly getting louder and louder as the group of people tried to be heard over one another and continued to get more and more worked up. Arthur's head was whipping from side to side as he tried to answer each need or question thrown at him. He was flushed with anger as he opened his mouth to shout at them all to just shut up already.

Matthew moved forward swiftly to stop the chaos. "Hey! Guys, you can't all yell at Arthur like that. He can't keep up with you," Matthew said as he stepped forward to try and stop the madness. The people around Arthur quieted for a bit, knowing that the soft spoken blond wouldn't be able to talk over them, and looked at Matthew, favoring the younger man's kindness over Arthur's bitterness.

Matthew smiled gently at them and said, "If you need meat and there are too many animals, slaughter a few of the animals to get the meat you need. Make sure to leave mothers and their offspring alone. Try to take the ones that don't produce as much milk or do as much work and only take what you need. We can't afford to waste. Frank, take Kumajirou with you into the forest when you go to get wood. Kuma may be small, but he's strong enough to help pull the wood cart. Get more wood than you need to fix the stable and then take whatever you don't use into town to bargain for more animal feed and enough flour for the cooks." He only addressed the ones that he was able to clearly hear, but knowing that the others there still had complaints he calmly said, "If anyone else has something they need just calmly tell Arthur one at a time. It's hard to keep up when you have a ton of people shouting at you."

Arthur was a bit surprised that Matthew, the softest spoken person he knew, had been able to stop the shouting, but he recovered from the surprise and cleared his throat to regain the room's attention. "Quite right, Matthew. Now, if you'll excuse us, I need to talk with Matthew in private so uh... Just come back one at a time later and I'll work out the problems," Arthur said in a clipped voice. He was clearly still upset about all of the people bothering him like that, but it would look bad if he reprimanded them just after Matthew settled the matter.

The group around Arthur gave him a slightly cold look before turning to leave. They slowly filed out of the room without another word. One or two gave Matthew a soft smile, but most gave him a look of pity. They knew what kind of things Arthur and Matthew had to talk about and they knew exactly what Matthew's missions were for.

Matthew gave each of them a kind smile as they passed, trying to ignore the looks of pity he received. He didn't want nor needed their pity. Matthew was capable of taking perfectly good care of himself and that's all that mattered in his mind. That and finding his family.

Arthur gave Matthew an awkward smile, still not good with talking to the blond even though he had been in charge of Matthew since the boy was little. "Right then. Thank you for helping with that. Now, for the mission briefing," Arthur said, clearing his throat again before continuing, "Your job is to kill two brothers so they can't live to carry on their father's name. This job will be tricky because they have a very good amount of defense and 24/7 guard along with the fact that if you kill one and fail to kill the other protection will just increase. As cover you'll be going in as a sort of servant to the family. Your job under their roof is undetermined so far, but once you arrive at the house they will tell you what you're going to be doing. Your mission is to do your best to get as close as possible to one of the brothers. Or to get the father to like and trust you greatly. You'll be reporting to one of the fae each week until I give you the signal to take them out. If possible try to get rid of the father as well. That will all start tomorrow though. Today you'll be riding to the town in a carriage and you will explore the house grounds to be aware of places you can possibly use to kill the brothers or the father along with escape routes should someone pursue you after the mission is 'll be staying at a tavern called Fleur de Lis. You'll need to eat dinner there as well. In the morning one of my... er... connections will bring you the things you'll need for your role as a servant along with what you'll need to complete the mission. On your way to the town you'll be expected to look through a file prepared with all of the information you'll need for the mission including a map of the inside of the house and a biography on all of the people working and living in the house." He stood up and held out a file to Matthew, waiting for him to take it and then leave.

Matthew gave Arthur a semi-bow before he straightened up and said, "A- Arthur, has there been any news on my brot-"

"No. There hasn't been any news on either of them so stop asking. I'll tell you what I've found when you've earned the information." Arthur snapped, not caring that he cut Matthew off.

Matthew bit his lip to hold back a sharp retort and just nodded. "Yes, sir," He muttered before snatching the file out of Arthur's hand and storming out of the room. This would be a long ride.

* * *

A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, faves, and alerts! I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested in this story and then I got quite a bit of positive feedback and it made me really happy~ I'm sorry that I took so long to type up this chapter and that it's such a short chapter, but don't worry, next chapter is probably going to double the current word count of this fanfic pretty easily. Plus, there's going to be action in the next chapter. You'll get to see some magic, a fight, and a few near fights so get ready! Plus, Gilbert's gonna finally come in next chapter! Hope that made at least one person happy.

So, next chapter should actually be out faster than this chapter got out. All I need to do is write the 5th chapter of another fanfic and then write a one-shot.

Thanks for reading and please review, after all, reviews are love~


	3. Mystery Man

CH 3 Mystery Man

Matthew sat back in the carriage seat as yet another bump in the road caused the entire moving vehicle to shake and shudder. At this point, Matthew honestly wouldn't be surprised if the entire thing suddenly collapsed at the next bump. He had already read over the file about eight times and wasn't super interested in reading over it another time. After all, he had a near photographic memory so at this point he could probably recite the information word by word.

Blinking a few times, Matthew tried to keep awake. It would look really bad if he feel asleep right before a mission and he had no doubt that the driver of the carriage would end up reporting it to Arthur. It didn't help that there were probably a few hours before he'd actually get to the town and start his mission. Oh well, Matthew might as well review what he knows.

The house was four stories tall and had a basement. It seemed like most of the people who worked there and lived there lived in the basement which was spacey enough for the 12 of them to all live there. Apparently that would be where Matthew was staying as well since he would be working and living there. The house had very high windows and the grounds around the house was covered in trees, had a garden, a stable and pasture, and had a high wall surrounding the grounds.

The description of the inside let Matthew know that he'd be able to find plenty of hiding spots and apparently there were tons of secret passages all throughout the house that very, very few people knew off.

The people staying at the house all seemed to be a bit strange, each one being marked down as having their own quirk and each other coming from different part of the world. It seemed like the entire house was really diverse.

Moving on to the people he was supposed to take out. The father was tall, had long blond hair that was partly braided. His name was Alaric. He was a widow and closer in age of a grandfather to the two brothers rather than a father. The father apparently was already suspected of being ill and rarely went out of his study or his room except to get meals and talk with the towns people. It would be simple enough to bide his time and kill the father when no one was around.

The younger brother inherited his father's looks, being very tall and having short blond hair slicked back along with crystal blue eyes. His name was Ludwig and he had been named heir to the position of power over the town, which was surprising considering he had an older brother. He was noted to be slightly OCD and to have a pattern of how he went about doing things each day. It would be simple to use those patterns against the brother and figure out a way to slip him some sort of poison or set up a trap for him.

The older brother seemed to be completely opposite of the other two. His name was Gilbert and he had pure white hair and red eyes, both of which were natural. As a believer of magic, Matthew had to wonder if there was some kind of demon blood within their family, but Matthew cast the notion aside. If it wasn't mentioned in the file it wasn't needed information. The brother was known for being loud and obnoxious and not really trusting anyone. Gilbert apparently would randomly disappear into town without telling his family or run off into the forest. Matthew knew it would be easy to take the albino out in the woods.

Matthew's cover was interesting. He was supposed to be an orphan with two younger sisters who lived at their uncles house. His 'uncle Jim' set him up with the job at this mansion so he could pay for his youngest sister to be visited by a healer and get her illness cured. The father had been told that Matthew was a skilled fighter, cook, and musician. He was supposed to wear glasses, which was actually a relief since Matthew's vision wasn't all that great and since wearing glasses reminded Arthur of Alfred, Matthew hadn't worn glasses since he was a kid. It was an interesting set up and almost sounded like one of those crappy romance books some of the girls at his house read. At least it would've if one of the brothers was a girl instead of a boy, but Matthew shrugged it off. It didn't really matter to him anyway.

Satisfied with having the information memorized, Matthew yawned lightly and leaned his head against the window. A tiny nap wouldn't hurt right?

* * *

The thing that woke Matthew up was the fact that the bumping and jostling had stopped. His eyes flickered open and he looked around, sitting up quickly. Just after he sat up the door was pulled open and the driver of the carriage told Matthew that they had arrived. Standing up slightly, Matthew got out of the carriage and looked around. He didn't see a town in sight, but he did notice that it wasn't quite sunset yet.

Turning to question why they weren't at the town, Matthew saw that the driver was already ready to leave. The driver pointed at the path and then without another word cracked the reins to the horses and left.

Matthew looked at the path for a moment and sighed loudly. Now he would have the joy of walking the rest of the way to a town he had never been to before along with hoping that

Starting down the path silently, he watched the clouds, happy that at least it was a nice spring day outside. It would be terrible to have to walk around in bad weather especially since Matthew didn't have a change of clothes and wouldn't get one until the next morning. At least he had a bit of money to buy his dinner would. He hope it would taste good. After living with Arthur and having eaten his and the cook's nasty cooking almost all his life, Matthew was looking forward to some real food.

Matthew was still wearing all black, but unless someone looked closely at his clothing he would just look like a normal teenager who liked the color black.

Matthew looked down at the ground and frowned. Sometimes he wished he was just a normal teenager. Then he would have a real family rather than a guy who was a few years older than him and ruled over his life. Matthew also wouldn't have a bunch of blood on his hands either. After Alfred ran away, Matthew was trained and conditioned to be the perfect assassin. He could use invisiblity spells to erase any trace of him being there, but he wasn't allowed to learn any other magic. He had been tutored and forced to learn everything he needed to know at an extremely fast pace. Fighting was essential because if he didn't learn how to fight back Arthur would've let him be a punching bag for quite a few magical creatures. If he had just been a normal kid maybe he wouldn't feel so empty or alone. Maybe he'd feel as if someone actually liked him for him.

Shaking his head quickly, Matthew went back to gazing at the clouds and loosing himself in happier thoughts. His thinking was soon interrupted by a hooded figure who accidentally bumped into him.

The force of getting bumped into cause Matthew to fall over on his butt, but he was able to recover quickly and was back on his feet in an instant. Moving into action, Matthew tripped the hooded figure swiftly, his training causing him to automatically assume that he was under attack. He balled up his fists and jumped backward a bit, ready if it came to a fight.

The hooded figure held his hands and arms up in front of his face and said, "Whoa, whoa! Don't hit me, I just bumped into you!"

Matthew looked down at the person he had tripped and relaxed. Matthew couldn't see the guy's face, but from his pleas for Matthew to not hit him, Matthew knew that this person wasn't a threat.

"S- sorry about that... Um... reflexes?" Matthew said as an excuse for him basically attacking the person who had just bumped into him. Moving up to the hooded figure, Matthew extended his hand to help the other off of the ground.

The guy took Matthew's hand and used his other hand to make sure that his hood stayed on as he stood up. "It's cool, it's cool. Just be glad you caught me off guard because otherwise my awesomeness would've kicked your ass." The guy said as he brushed himself off.

Matthew gave him a skeptical look and crossed his arms. This guy seemed overly cocky and it kind of annoyed Matthew, but he didn't say anything.

"Anyway I'm Gil- lian. Um... Yeah. My name is... Gillian?" Gillian said holding out his hand in greeting to Matthew.

Laughing lightly, Matthew took Gillian's hand and shook it. It was painfully obvious that 'Gillian' was using a fake name, but Matthew ignored it. It didn't matter to him who this person was after all.

Dropping his hand, Matthew teased, "I thought Gillian was a girls name." When the other's shoulders slumped a bit showing that Matthew had upset him, (He was guessing since he couldn't see Gillian's face.) Matthew wondered if the other really was a girl. The voice sounded like a guys and the build looked like a guy's build, but with the robe and hood on, Matthew really wouldn't be able to tell.

Trying to cover up his mistake, Matthew quickly said, "I'm Matthew. It's nice to meet you."

Gillian glared at Matthew for a minute before saying, "Don't mock my awesome kid. It's not cool. Or funny. And I'll have you know that Gillian is a perfectly fine name for a guy, okay?"

Matthew nodded when suddenly a peep came from inside Gillian's robe. A little yellow bird came flying out of the clothes and fly around Gillian's head peeping. Matthew gave the other a confused look as the little bird flew around.

Suddenly the bird flew over to Matthew and sat on his head, quickly making a nest of his hair. Matthew put his hands on his head and tried to fish the bird out of his, now, mess of hair.

Gillian started helping Matthew, swatting the other's hands away since Matthew was just making more of a mess. "Come on Birdie, Gilbird doesn't bite and you're just making more of a mess of your hair," Gillian said calmly as he finally got the bird out of Matthew's hair.

"Gilbird? You named a bird after yourself? W- wait, why'd you call me 'Birdie'?" Matthew asked frowning. He didn't like randomly getting nicknames from people and he was upset that his hair was insanely tangled up now.

"Yeah I named him after me! I'm his owner so why not? Well... Gilbird really likes you, after all most people he first meets he pecks and he only makes nests of people's hair that he likes. And your blond hair is that same color as Gilbird's must think you're a bird if he likes you so much. Plus, Birdie's much awesomer than Matthew," Gillian explained calmly as he set Gilbird on top of his head.

Matthew gave Gillian a skeptical look before shaking his head. "Whatever. Sorry for bumping into you and then tripping you, but I need to get to town," Matthew said stepping around Gillian and continuing down the path.

After a few moments, Matthew heard footsteps behind him and then felt an arm slung around his shoulder. He tensed up at the physical contact, but relaxed again and glared at Gillian for a minute.

"Well, Matt, I think I'm going to accompany you into town as I was heading in that direction anyway and you seem to be new. The town doesn't see new people a whole lot." Gillian said with a large grin.

Matthew gave Gillian a 'you've got to be kidding' look and was met with a shit-eating grin. He sighed loudly and said, "Don't call me Matt. And how do you know I'm not a robber or something like that?"

Gillian just laughed and declared, "Well if you were a robber you would've jumped me earlier after you tripped me! And it's not like I have any money on me anyway." He looked at Matthew for a second and noticed that the other looked kind of serious. "Why don't you want to be called Matt?"

Giving him an angry look, Matthew looked at the ground and said, "Someone I knew a long time ago called me Matt and it kind of brings up bad memories, okay? Just call me Bird or whatever you were calling me earlier."

Gillian felt bad that he had upset the other, but quickly changed the subject. "Alrighty then, Birdie. How about you and I go into town and get some food? I haven't eaten in a little bit and I'm friends with the owner of this one place so we can eat there for free. It'll be fun," Gillian said with a softer smile. He figured that free food would make up for bringing up a bad topic and it would give Gillian a better chance to get to know the somewhat strange blond.

Matthew looked at Gillian a bit skeptically before sighing loudly and nodding. There was no harm in getting free food after all. "Sure. I'll come with you, er- Gillian," Matthew said, feeling awkward about using the name Gillian for the man considering Matthew was certain that it was a fake name.

Gillian chewed his lip for a moment before saying, "You know what? Forget the Gillian thing, just call me Gil okay?"

Matthew nodded calmly and continued walking towards town, ignoring the arm that was still around his shoulder.

* * *

Matthew looked around the town as the walked and Gil talked rapidly into his ear about everything from what Gil had eaten that morning to cats being Satan. After being a recluse for so long because all he ever did outside of his home was go and kill people, Matthew wasn't quite sure how to react to Gil's talking, but so far Matthew had decided that hit himself over the head with a frying pan sounded nice.

Suddenly the arm around his neck tightened a bit and Gil exclaimed, "Here's the place!"

Matthew tried to catch sight of what the place was called, but he was dragged through the door before he could read what the sign said. Frowning Matthew gave Gil a glare, but he was ignored and dragged over to a table to sit at.

Sitting down, Matthew scanned the area, noticing that the entire room seemed to be filled to the brim with people, each one at varying levels of being sober. Apparently this place was the life of the party. Matthew yawned, covering his mouth quickly and looked at Gil to see what exactly was going on.

Matthew decided to study Gil for a bit, curious as to who this person was. He still had the hood up and the robe covered everything except a bit of his forearms and his hands. What skin Matthew could see was very pale and it didn't look like there was any hair on the other's arm either. Based on their conversation Matthew assumed that the guy was around his age, maybe a bit older because the other's voice was deeper, but maybe a bit younger because Gil seemed more hyperactive than most people Matthew's age.

"So this is the place my buddy owns. You could meet him if you want to, but you might not want to cause he's definitely not as awesome as I am, I mean it's impossible for anyone to be as awesome as me, but he's okay. Oh yeah, and this place is called the Fleur de Lis. Best food and drinks in town," Gil said, interrupting Matthew's thoughts.

Matthew nodded slowly, not paying attention much when it registered that Gil had said that this place was the Fleur de Lis. Smiling lightly, Matthew said, "That's actually really convenient. I was told by my uncle that I'm supposed to stay here for the night before starting a job tomorrow."

Gil's eyes lit up slightly when Matthew said that. He was happy to be able to help someone out like that. "That's good. I'm gonna go let Franny know that we're here and what I want to eat. I might be a little bit cause we've got some catching up to do, but I shouldn't be too super long so don't worry," Gil said with a grin as he stood up.

He was about to walk off when he realized that he hadn't asked Matthew what he wanted to eat. "By the way Mattie, what do you want to eat?" Gil asked, looking back at the blond.

Matthew had no clue what kind of food they would serve here so he just said, "I'll just take whatever you get." He was certain that after living with Arthur's cooking for so long that whatever Gil got wouldn't be bad. Or at least that Matthew would be able to stomach it without dying.

Gil nodded quickly and said, "Alright. I'll be back in a bit." He turned around and walked away, disappearing behind the door to the kitchen.

Yawning once again Matthew crossed his arms and laid his head down on the table. Apparently the nap in the carriage hadn't been enough. His eyes slowly closed before snapping open again. He couldn't go to sleep. He had to focus on the task at hand. If he fell asleep on the job it would look really bad. Plus, to do the night time part of his job he was probably going to have to give Gil the slip and to do that he needed to come up with a plan.

Another yawn stopped his thought process as he let his eyes slowly slip shut once more. Maybe just a few minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt. Plus the smell of the food was making him really sleepy. Before he fell asleep he had one final thought, The food smells just like Francis's cooking...

* * *

Matthew felt a hand on his shoulder shake him gently, but he was still sleep for the most part. "But Francis I don't wanna get up... Al always hits me with the ball when we play catch." Matthew muttered sleepily as he shifted lightly.

"Birdie. Mattie, you gotta wake up. Come o- Franny, where are you going?" Gil said looking to his friend in confusion.

"Oh mon Dieu, Gil, I've got to go."

"And why is that? I don't appreciate you ditching my awesome."

"I'm sorry Gil I ju-"

Matthew stirred again, this time his eyes flickering open a bit as he mumbled, "Wha is it?"

"Franny! Fine, ditch me and hide in the kitchen. Mattie, wake up!" Gil said shaking the blonde's shoulder again. Gil shook Matthew gently, not sure if the blond would end up waking up at all. "Come on, wak- Hey why's this piece of hair sticking out so much?" Gil asked before grabbing the curl on Matthew's head.

Matthew went from half laying on the table to standing in a split second, grabbing Gil's wrist and twisting his arm behind his back. Matthew slammed Gil face first onto the table before realizing just where he was and what he had just done. Letting go like he had been burnt, Matthew took a step back and quickly apologized. "I'm sorry! I- I just kind of... um... reflexes?"

Gil rubbed his face and frowned. "You really gotta stop beating me up kid. Reflexes just from me pulling that little piece of hair?" Gil asked pointing at the curl that now hung in front of Matthew's face.

Nodding lightly Matthew said, "Yup. It's um... really sensitive or something. Just don't ever touch it."

Gil lifted an eyebrow and stared at the piece of hair, now thoroughly curious about it. "Does it hurt or something?"

Matthew shook his head and said, "Look, never mind about the curl." Matthew looked down at the table and saw one plate that looked like someone had eaten off of it and another plate with food on it.

"I got you the food, but you were asleep so I just let you sleep, but it's kind of late now so I was trying to wake you up," Gil explained calmly.

Matthew nodded and sat back down, scarfing down the food quickly while Gil stood there and observed him.

Once Matthew was done eating some of the food he stood up and looked at Gil. "Y- You said it was night right?" Matthew asked nervously. He hoped he hadn't been asleep to long, but from the looks of the room now it seemed like most everyone had left.

With a nod from Gil, Matthew chewed on his lip before saying, "Do you know if you can ask you friend if I can stay here for the night? I've got enough gold to pay for the night." Matthew reached in his pocket and pulled out a few gold coins.

Gil looked back at the kitchen door nervously before looking at the hopeful look on Matthew's face. "I... er... I'll see what I can do. You um... stay here and finish eating okay? It's not good for you to eat that little," Gil said pointing at the plate. He honestly knew that he was in no place to tell Matthew what to do, but he couldn't let Matthew follow him back into the kitchen since his friend apparently didn't want Matthew to see him.

Matthew was a little confused about why Gil wanted him to stay out here, but he didn't argue. Giving Gil the gold pieces, Matthew sat back down at the table and actually took the time to eat his food. It was amazing. He hadn't had this kind of home cooked food since he was a really little kid. It brought back some good memories. With a smile on his face Matthew finished the meal quickly, having not actually eaten a full meal in a long time. He normally either didn't have the time to eat the food or it was really bad and he could only eat a little bit of it.

Gil walked off to the kitchen and started talking with his friend. "Fra-" Gil started to say when another voice hushed him.

"Fine, I won't say your name, but the kid wants to stay here for the night. He said that his uncle told him to stay here for the night before he goes off to start his job tomorrow. He'll probably be gone in the morning," Gil said.

The other voice quickly responded, but in a quieter voice, "I know, I know. But he just can't stay here, okay? Tell him all the rooms are full or something. I mean, why can't he like stay at your place or something? Your house is huge."

Gil's angry voice came next, "Are you kidding? Vati, is probably going to kill me for sneaking out again. If I show up with some random stranger he'll strangle me and that would not be cool."

The other responded angrily, "So why doesn't he just stay somewhere else? There are plenty of people that would let him stay in their home for this much gold! Plus there's that little place across the place that lets people stay over night. Town Centre or something. I'm sure that they'd take him in."

There was a pause and Matthew assumed Gil either sighed or thought about what he said next. "When we got here he said that he was looking for this place specifically to stay at which means he's not going to just go somewhere else. Come on, he's just a kid in town for work. He's probably even younger than Luddy, not even an adult. If he wants this specific place and he's starting a job he's either being told how to do things or he doesn't want to go into unfamiliar places and knows that this place is safe or something like that. He's like a scared little bird without a nest," Gil said trying to convince the other person to let Matthew stay.

Matthew licked his lips nervously. He hoped that Gil would be able to convince the other to let him stay. He didn't care what the two thought of him and had no clue who Luddy could possibly be, but it didn't matter. Arthur would pitch a fit if he couldn't stay at this place and that would set him back in finding his brothers.

This pause was even longer, the silence setting Matthew on edge when he heard the other voice say, "Fine. But I'm not going out there. Just give me the gold and tell him room 14."

Gil quickly said, "That's so unaw- Don't give me that look. Alright, alright, I'm going. Gott, someone's pushy. I'll see you around."

Pushing open the door and walking out from the kitchen, Gil went back to the table. "Sorry about that. Franny's a bit odd a lot of the time. He says you can stay in room 14. The key will be in the room. When you leave tomorrow just leave the key where you found it and the door unlocked," Gil said with a grin as if he hadn't been arguing with his friend for a while.

Matthew nodded and softly said, "Thank you, Gil. You helped me out a lot."

Gil seemed to beam at the idea of being able to help and said, "No problem Birdie! Well, I gotta go now. It was awesome talking to you. I hope that I'll get to see you again." With that Gil waved lightly and then left before Matthew really had a chance to say anything to him.

Matthew was a little confused about why Gil had left so quickly, but he left it alone. Gil was gone now and Matthew would be able to start his mission now.

Sighing, Matthew got up, leaving his plate where it was on the table. He went to the stairs and walked up them calmly. Matthew walked down the hall, scanning the doors for his room number. When he got to the room he twisted the knob and opened the door, walking inside.

Closing the door firmly behind him, Matthew scanned the room to see was was in it. There was a single bed in the middle of the room with a nightstand sitting next to it along with an unlit lantern. On the other side of the bed was a desk with a chair sitting beside it. He could barely make out a bit of flint sitting near the lantern to light it and a key sitting on the top of the desk.

Crossing the room, Matthew grabbed the flint and steel and lit the lantern before going back to the door and locking it. He went to the desk and set the flint and steel down before grabbing the key and shoving it into the little pocket he had. He took the chair near the desk and went back to the door, shoving the chair up under the door so now it would be impossible to open the door unless someone broke it down.

Glancing back across the room, Matthew took notice that the window in the room was quite large. He walked over to it and opened it up, looking around. There was a large tree just barely out of his reach to the left, but looking at the window sill and the metal pipe that ran up the side of the building just to the left of Matthew's window, he knew that he'd be able to reach the tree easily.

Matthew grabbed the blanket off of the top of the bed and foldded it up twice. He thanked whatever deity was out there that the blanket was balck and set it half hanging out of the window, but in a way it was balanced and wouldn't fall over the edge.

He slid out on the window and stood with his toes just barely on the window sill. With his right hand he grabbed onto the pipe to steady himself and shut the window with his left hand. The blanket kept the window from closing all the way and locking him out.

Matthew pulled the hood over his head, covering all of his hair except that little curl that just barely poked its way out of the hood. Brushing the curl inside the hood, Matthew tightened his grip on the pipe, suddenly wondering why he didn't do this before going out of the window. He pulled the other cloth around his neck up so it cover the rest of his face except his eyes. Feeling around the edges, Matthew made sure his hair was tucked in and wouldn't fly out to obstruct his vision or give anyone who possibly saw him a way to identify him.

Sure that he was completely covered, Matthew grabbed the pipe with his left hand, keeping his grip with the right hand tight. He braced his feet against the wall. His arms were screaming at him for having them hold his entire body weight up, but he ignored the feeling.

Glancing to the right, Matthew saw that he was still a bit away from the tree, but there wasn't anything else he could use to move that way. He thought it over and decided that he could jump to the tree and easily be able to grab onto the branch.

Taking a deep breath, Matthew shoved his body weight to the right, letting go of the pipe, and using his legs to give an extra push. He reached out to grab the branch and found that he had over shot his jump and hit the branch with his shoulder. Before he fell far he snatched the branch with his left hand, halting his fall, but wrenching his arm out of the socket.

Matthew grabbed the branch with his right hand and tried to ignore the screaming pain of his left arm. Looking below him he saw there was a branch he could land on if he let go. Slowly letting go, Matthew fell and landed on the branch. He walked in towards the trunk and sat down on the branch.

He looked at his left arm and grimaced. Matthew hated putting his arm back into the socket, but due to an injury while in training when he was younger his left arm would dislocate if he strained his arm like he did.

Taking hold of his arm with his other hand he snapped his arm back into socket, grimacing at the pain. Matthew hadn't dislocated his arm in a while so the pain of fixing it wasn't something he was used to anymore. Letting out the breath he didn't know he had been holding, Matthew got down the tree quickly after that.

Now on the ground, Matthew looked around to see if anyone had seen what he had just done. Glad that no one had seen him or at least was around anymore if they had seen him, he brushed himself off.

Glancing up at the sky, he noticed that it was a full moon. That would be both a good and a bad thing for Matthew. The good side would be that it allowed for people the see better, which at the same time was the bad part. He would be able to see the area and would remember it better, but others would be able to see him if they were looking.

With a sigh, Matthew ignored the thought. He wasn't to worried about people seeing him and even if they did, he'd be able to get away or fight back. Matthew started his way to the mansion. In the file he had been given very good directions so he was able to get there quickly and easily. He stuck to the sides of buildings and walked silently.

Once at the mansion he looked at the gate, examining it. He wouldn't be able to climb up the gate and just then a guard walked by. Matthew slunk around the corner of the wall and walked until he was at the part of the wall that was just in front of the side of the house.

Examining the wall Matthew knew that he could climb the wall, but it'd be a bit difficult to do so. It wasn't like he could just not climb the wall though so he moved back and away from the wall.

Facing the wall, Matthew suddenly sprinted at it, pushing off the ground and leaping through the air. He hit the wall and found hand and foot-holds before he was able to fall off the wall. Taking a second to glance around to make sure no one was on the outside of the wall, Matthew waited.

When Matthew saw that no one was around he started up the wall quickly. It wasn't too high up so he figured it would be easy enough. He was careful as he climbed, not certain how stable the wall actually was or if his hold on the wall was good enough.

Almost to the top of the wall, his foot suddenly slid off the wall and caused Matthew to grip that wall painfully tight and push his body against it. He was able to find a foot-hold and made his way up the rest of the wall. He pulled himself up onto the top of the wall and sat down on it, there being about a foot of flat space.

Looking around, Matthew smiled lightly. He had a great view from the top of the wall, being able to see clearly to the left and right. Directly in front of him was the house so he couldn't see past that.

Matthew got down on his belly and slowly started moving along the top of the wall so he'd be able to see past the house. He heard a door open and looked back towards the house, sitting up suddenly.

"Hey! Who's there?" A strong looking blond man shouted from the door when he saw Matthew sit up. An auburn headed man stood next to the blond with his arms wrapped around the blonde's arm.

"Who is it Ludwig?" The auburn asked as he looked over at Matthew.

Matthew, startled by the shout and having sat up so fast, lost his balance and found himself falling over the edge of the wall. He fell on the mansion side of the wall and hit the ground with his back.

With the wind knocked out of him, Matthew laid there trying to regain his breath and ignore the pain in his back.

"Is he dead? Oh Dio, don't let him be dead. Ludwig we just killed him! They'll blame us and then we'll have to go to jail. I- I've heard scary things about jail and they don't serve pasta there and we'll grow old and we'll die alone without being happy!" The auburn exclaimed, getting close to being in hysterics over the thought of accidentally killing someone.

Ludwig pushed the auburn back towards and door and calmly said, "Feliciano, the wall isn't high enough to kill someone if they fall unless they fall on their head. He probably got his breath knocked away. Stay inside in case it's a burglar and tell my father that someone's inside the grounds."

With a nod, Feliciano went back into the house closing the door behind him.

The sound of the door closing coaxed Matthew to stand up. Jumping to his feet he turned to try and go back over the wall. He froze for a second when he heard barking behind him. The shock of dogs behind him wore off quickly as soon as he noticed that the wall on this side was to smooth for him to climb.

Turning to the right, Matthew saw a person he didn't recognize running at him. At first glance the biggest thing Matthew noticed was the cowlick sticking up on the guy's head, but Matthew didn't wait to see anymore seeing as the person was charging at him.

Turning on his heel and dashing the other way, Matthew ran for the tree near there that had low enough branches for him to climb and high enough branches that he'd be able to climb over the wall.

Hearing a shout to the right of him made him look over, therefore slowing him down. He was met with the great hulking Ludwig tackling him to the ground. A cracking sound made Matthew wince, praying that he hadn't cracked his rip when he hit the ground.

Struggling to get out of Ludwig's grip, Matthew elbowed the other in the nose before sliding out of the other's grasp and taking off again, but the one with the cowlick had caught up and was blocking Matthew's path. Sprinting towards the house now, Matthew was glad that he was fast.

He could barely hear the sound of his pursuer's footsteps over the pounding of his heart, but the barking of dogs rang clear in his ears. Matthew needed to get over the wall and fast.

There was another tree just ahead and Matthew was sprinting towards the tree when teeth dug into his right leg causing him to shout in pain and stumble slightly. He kicked his leg forward causing the dog on his leg to let go of his leg. Matthew ran forward, adrenaline blocking the pain at the moment, and jumped, grabbing the first branch he got hold of and pulling himself up onto the tree.

Matthew scrambled up the tree ignoring his leg and moving as fast as he possibly could. Looking down, Matthew saw that thankfully no one was following him. Sitting with his back against the tree he watched the, apparently, two dogs circling the tree and barking lightly. Looking closely at the dogs he saw they were bigger than normal dogs and looked more like a cross of a wolf and a dog then a pure dog. They both seemed to have blackish fur. When one lifted its head to look up into the tree, Matthew saw they had the same color eyes as Ludwig.

_'They must be the first one's familiars or something...'_ Matthew thought. He recalled that the file had nothing on anyone there being able to use magic, but now it made sense why Arthur wanted them dead. Matthew knew that Arthur wanted to be able to take control of most of the world by using his magic and such so another magic user powerful enough would be a huge threat to Arthur. It was the reason Matthew had only been taught spells to turn himself invisible and half taught healing spells.

"Don't be an idiot. The both of us are to big to climb the tree. The branches are to thin to hold our weight and even if we got up the tree the guy's probably already over the wall and gone. Stop talking about being the hero," Ludwig snapped angrily, interrupting Matthew's thoughts.

Matthew got ready to climb up the tree, ignoring the thought that the other person with Ludwig looked familiar. He needed to get out of there before they discovered he was still in the tree. Feeling his chest gently Matthew smiled, knowing that the cracking noise hadn't been one of his ribs. He checked his leg quickly and saw that the cuts looked nasty and were extremely painful.

Trying to move up the tree, Matthew hissed in pain. Glancing down at his leg, he saw that it was still bleeding a bit. He tried to think of a healing spell for his leg. Sitting back against the tree he put his hands on the wound and murmured a few words before letting go of his leg. Looking at his leg he smiled when he saw the bleeding had halted completely.

Matthew moved up the tree and winced in pain. He sighed, but was thankful that he at least wouldn't bleed to death.

Slowly making his way up the tree, Matthew got level with the wall and then moved down the branch before stepping onto the wall. He glanced behind him to see the other two were still arguing about something and started down the wall in a hurry. In his hurry, Matthew lost his grip and fell, landing on his back again.

Ignoring the fact that he couldn't breath well, Matthew hurry off to the tavern, not caring about the pain in his leg.

Once at the tavern, Matthew climbed up the tree at a very slow pace. Once he got level with his window he was shocked to see that the blanket was no longer there, but the window was wide open.

Chewing his lip lightly, Matthew grabbed the pipe and got into his room through the window easily. It would've been a lot harder had the window been closed like he left it, but now Matthew knew someone had been in his room while he was gone.

Standing in his room, Matthew looked around cautiously. There was nearly no hiding places, but Matthew sensed the presence of someone else. The lantern was no longer lit, but the moonlight allowed for him to see just a little bit. His fists were balled up as he slowly moved farther into the room. He hoped that whoever was there wasn't looking for a fight because with his leg, Matthew wouldn't be able to fight a whole lot.

Matthew was about to drop his fists since everything seemed to be in place and there was no where to hide, after all, you got a bit paranoid when you killed people as a living, when he saw something shift in the air. There seemed to be a tremor in the air.

Turning to face the space, Matthew said, "Invisibility, right? Too bad for you, that's my specialty and you're not very good at it." Matthew leaped forward and took a blind punch at the person in front of him.

The person laughed and apparently dodged because Matthew's fist was met with air. Something grabbed his out-stretched wrist and an invisible hand was placed on his face.

"Elsep," was the only thing Matthew heard before his eye closed and everything went black.

The man made himself visible now that Matthew was asleep and caught the blond before he could hit the floor. The man had shoulder-length, wavy, blond hair and bright blue eyes. He sighed loudly and picked Matthew up, setting him face down on the bed.

Looking at the sleeping boy, the man pushed his blond hair back with his pale hand. He couldn't believe that Matthew was there in the flesh. The man looked at Matthew's wound and ripped the cloth away from it. Placing his hand on the wound, the man murmured a few words and moved his hand away. It now looked like Matthew hadn't gotten hurt in the first place, the only trace being the torn pant leg.

The man flipped Matthew onto his back and pulled the hood off and pushed the mask down so Matthew's face was visible again. The stranger pulled the other's shoes off and placed them at the foot of the bed.

Move back to Matthew's head, the man gently put a hand on the blonde's cheek with a frown. "Mon petit Mathieu... What has Arthur done to you?" The man said, a few tears leaking from the corners of his eyes and falling onto Matthew's face.

Wiping the tears off Matthew's face, the blond leaned in and kissed the boy's forehead gently. He set a red rose with a blue ribbon down on the desk gently and muttered, "Who would've thought that after so many years I'd see you again like this. I wish I could talk to you, but I'm afraid that you'll hate me for running away when I should have protected you."

The man bit his lip and turned around before walking through the wall and out of the room.

* * *

((A/N: I promised a long chapter and you got one that was over twice as long as the first two chapters combined. I have to say that I think I fulfilled my promise. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter! I know a lot happened, but I've introduced new characters that are definitely going to come back.

Huge thanks to my friend who gave me the name for the other place mentioned in the chapter, Town Centre. The place will come up a few times within this story so I wanted a good name and I'm horrid at coming up with names for things that aren't cheesy.

Another insanely HUGE thanks to my only reviewer, XionAmmy! And thank you to everyone who's actually read this!

Translations:

French-

Fleur de Lis - Lily

Mon Dieu - My God

Mon petit Mathieu - My little Matthew

German-

Vati - Father

Gott - God

Italian-

Dio - God

I apologize if I ever use something wrong. I'm only in French 2 and I'll be starting German 1 this school year. I use google translate otherwise.

I hope to see a few more reviews than last time if you guys could send them. Anyway, until the next chapter~

Edt: I am so sorry! I accidentally uploaded the wrong chapter! The chapter uploaded was from my other story, The Trouble of Secrets. They both start with 't's and they were both the third chapter ones so I got mixed up. I hope you guys like this chapter a lot better. ))


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